Stanton transitions to UW's new 4-3 defense

Wyoming senior Jordan Stanton's left wrist is wrapped with tape. On it, what looks like a small essay is scribbled in blue ink. Line after line is scrawled, some of it blurred by contact, working its way from the front of his wrist to the side, to the underside.

There are play calls and alignments, definitions and angles. To you, it looks like an un-crackable code. To him, it's a lifeline.

The senior has an entirely new defense etched onto his hand.

"I call it scripture," Stanton said with a grin. "It's more of a reference now. On the first day, it was like my cheat sheet on the test. I'm looking, I'm trying to get aligned. We put in so much stuff so quick that you want to make sure you're right.

"But now, I don't even really look at it. I write it down just to have it."

Stanton is a 3-4 linebacker who is determined to transform. In high school, he played in the 3-4. At Los Angeles Pierce Community College, he played in the 3-4. It's accurate to say he played in the 3-4 last season, too, though just saying he "played in it" might be shortchanging his production.

In his first season in Laramie, Stanton accumulated a team-high 134 tackles, eighth in team history.

Now, he must become a different player. Those 134 tackles will do him no good next season, while he wades in unfamiliar waters. The thick, violent 246-pound senior with the spiked hair and folded black bandana must strip away his old habits, and build atop the ashes.

"In the first few days, we were just trying to get him to bend his knees and get in a stance so he can move like a 4-3 linebacker," Wyoming defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Steve Stanard told the Casper Star-Tribune (http://bit.ly/1hVvCfi). "But his biggest thing is getting his eyes right. The old adage is, 'If I see a little, I see a lot. If I see a lot, I see a little.' That's linebacker play.

"You have to start on an initial key, and take it to your next key."

Commitment shouldn't be an issue. Stanton's daily schedule this spring has played out as follows:

—Go to practice.

—Go to class.

—Ice and rehab.

—Watch an extra hour of film with coaches.

—Return home for class studies.

—Return to facility for another hour of film, preparation, etc.

—Go to bed.

—Repeat until perfected.

Notice that several of those bullets aren't requirements. Stanton watches film when he doesn't need to, then asks questions others leave floating around in their heads. He does it because he knows his opponents won't.

He does it because the alternative is mediocrity, and the destination is excellence.

"You just want to be the best," Stanton said. "That's what it comes down to at the end of the day. How good do you want to be? That determines how your focus is, how your mental preparation is. Are you taking the time out of your day to do the extra things so you can be that type of professional?"

That progress is as evident on the field as it is on his wrist, where a novel has receded into a short story.

"This, believe it or not, was a lot bigger," Stanton says, motioning to the blue bullet points scribbled onto his tape. "I actually took some things out. That's just showing that I'm understanding things now.

Stanton is far from a finished product. This defense is dense, especially for the linebackers. To change the way they play, they first need to change the way they think. They need to understand not only what their responsibility is, but how it fits into the defensive scheme as a whole.

But there is progress. And as the practices pile up, the scripture shrinks.

"Next time you see me, it'll be smaller and smaller," Stanton said with a grin.